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Published on January 25, 2025
Wisconsin DNR Reveals New CWD Research Data, Eyeing Impact on Deer Populations and Predator Dynamics in Southwest WisconsinSource: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

The ongoing battle with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Wisconsin has produced some fresh findings, courtesy of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources unveiled preliminary results from a study focused on the interplay between CWD, deer survival, and the influence of predators in southwest Wisconsin. For those who fancy a deep dive, the presentation was made to the Natural Resources Board (NRB), and the entire session can be streamed on DNR's YouTube channel.

A slew of figures emerge from this fieldwork, conducted in northern Iowa, Dane, and Grant counties—an area notorious as the ground zero of Wisconsin's CWD troubles since 2002. Researchers threw their nets wide in this study, tagging over 1,200 animals which included adult deer, fawns, coyotes, and bobcats, with a tech arsenal of 766 GPS collars for adult deer and 323 radio tracking collars for the sprightly fawns. It's a tableau quantifying nature's complex web that's unrivaled in terms of scale for the region.

The primary quest of the study was to measure the survival rates of deer and discern the extent to which CWD has been shaping these rates. CWD is a neurological disease affecting cervids such as deer, elk, and moose, and it's known for causing severe weight loss, stumbling, and other symptoms that invariably lead to death. The disease casts a long shadow over the state, affecting not just wildlife health, but recreational hunting and local economies tied to deer populations.